James m



(No Model.)

J. M. PINGH & G. PPEIPPER.

WIRE MATTRESS WBAVING MACHINE. No. 515,202. Patented Feb. 20,1894;

JAMES M. FINOI-I AND CHARLES PFEIFFER, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

WlREl-MATTRESS-WEAVING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 515,202, dated February 20, 1894.

Application filed August 11, 1893. Serial No. 482,896- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES M. FINOH and CHARLES PFEIFFER, citizens of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, State of \Visconsin, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in WVire- Mattress-Weaving Machines; and we declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to new and useful improvements in machines for manufacturing woven wire mattresses, and our said invention consists in the matters hereinafter described and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating our invention, Figure 1 is a view in elevation taken from the rear or delivery side of a wire twisting machine constructed in accordance with our invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail vertical transverse sectional view taken on line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is adetail plan view of the adjustable feed controlling mechanism. Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of the adjustable stop. Fig.7 is a detail perspective view of the plunger for throwing the wire feed mechanism into or-out of engagement with the drive pulley.

Referring by letter to said drawings, A designates the frame of our improved machine which may be of any desired or convenient construction, said frame being provided with upwardly extending posts or standards A A in which are journaled suitable horizontal shafts b b for the feed rollers B B which serve to advance the wire and force the same through the grooves of the twisting mandrel or die 0.

The wire D is fed to the machine through a suitable guide a, andis gripped between the rollers B B which are provided in their faces with any desired number of circumferential grooves b b for the reception of the wire as it passes between the gripping rollers.

Upon the end of one of the horizontal. shafts b b, as for instance, upon the lower one of said shafts, is loosely mounted a suitable drive pulley E which is adapted for operative engagement with a beltin a familiar manner, and upon one side of the hub of said pulley is provided a suitable projecting shoulder e for engagement with a suitable device secured to the shaft 1), and under the control of the operator, for locking said pulley to the shaft, so as to cause said shaft to rotate to actuate the feed rolls so long as the engagement of said device with said shoulder is maintained. Upon the two shafts I) Z) are secured two suitable gear wheels F F which are arranged to mesh with each other so as to produce a rotation of the upper shaft in a direction opposite to the rotation of the lower shaft, and thereby cause the adjacent faces of the two feed rolls B B to travel in the same direction to advance the wire. .A suitable sleeve F is secured to one of the gear wheels F F, preferably the lower one, and is conveniently made integral with the hub of said wheel, said sleeve being arranged to extend for a considerable distance upon the outside of the shaft b, and screw-threaded upon its outer surface as shown more particularly in Fig. 1, throughout the greater part of its length, for a purpose to be presently described.

Upon the lower shaft 19 adjacent to the hub of the pulley E, is provided a collar G having an annular grooveg, for the reception of a suitable pawl H, as in Fig. 1.

Aplunger I is arranged to move longitudinally in asuitable bore which extends through the collar G, parallel to the shaftb and intersects the annular groove g, and a suitable springt' is arranged to press the said plunger lengthwise of said bore toward the hub of the drive pulley. The face of the flange Gr upon which the spring 2' is located, is cut away as at g for the reception of the spring to permit said spring, at times to project the plungerI toward the hub of the pulley E so as to carry its outer end 4 into engagement with the projection 6 upon said hub. A lateral shoulder i is provided upon said plunger at a point thereon which will come within the groove 9 when the plunger I is in engagement at its forward end 71' with the said projection e. The pawl H is provided at its free end with an oblique 0r cam face it at the base of which is a shoulder h, the arrangement being such out affecting the shaft 19. As soon as the plunger has been freed from engagement with the shoulder e, the shoulder 1' of the plunger will be carried into engagement with the lateral shoulder h on the pawl H by the rotary motion of the shaft b and the collar G, so that when the said plunger thus comes into engagement with said shoulder, the rotation of the shaft and the feed rolls actuated thereby will be stopped, and the feed mechanism thereby held stationary, and any further rotation of the feed rolls is thereby prevented.

In order to provide suitable means for producing an automatic operation of the pawl H to stop the motion of the feed mechanism when the wire has been advanced sufficientlyto extend throughout a mattress of a predetermined length, the pawl H is secured to the end of a suitable shaft J which is j ournaled horizontally in the machine frame, and has an operative connection at one end, as for instance, by means of the crank j, and connectionj with a foot treadle or other convenient means within the reach of the operator, whereby he may effect a partial rotation of said shaft so as to lift the free end of the pawl H and free the plunger I, thus permitting said plunger to be pressed forward by the spring 71 into the path of the shoulder 6 upon the hub of the drive pulley, to start the feed mechanism and in connection therewith suitable mechanism adapted to be thrown into operation by the said'movement of the shaft J, so as to hold the pawl H out of the path of the shoulder 11 on the plunger I for a predetermined number of revolutions of the drive pulley and feed rolls, and adapted to automatically free said pawl to permit its return into position to engage with said plunger as soon as the required 7 number of revolutions of the said mechanism have been completed.

We find it convenient for this purpose to employ a plate K, which is secured at one side to theshaft J, and is arranged to extend at its free edge beneath the screw-threaded sleeve F, and is provided with a longitudinal slot along which is arranged to travel a sliding sectional nut L which is brought into engagement with the under side of the said sleeve by the movement of the shaft J to free the plunger 1. Adjacent to one end of the plate K is provided a spring actuated latch M, having a suitable shoulder .or step m and pressed against the end of the plate by a spring m, so that when said plate is elevated by the movement of shaft J to free the plunger, and the sectional nut L comes into engagement with the threaded sleeve F, said spring on will forcethe latchuM forward so as to cause the shoulder m to come into ongagement with the end of plate K to support the same in its adjusted position. The sectional nut L is provided upon'the side adjacent to the latch M with asuitable projection Z, arranged to come into engagement with the free end of said latch, when said nut has traveled to the end of slot 76 so as to crowd said latch away from the plate Kandpermit the free edge of said plate to drop. Any suit able means may be provided for quickly returning the shaft J, and plate K to their normal positions, at the instant that said plate is freed from the latch, and to this end we may employ a suitable spring N having operative engagement in any desiredmanner with the shaft J or the pawl H and with the frame A, so as to constantly exert a pressure upon the shaft J which tends to throw the pawl H into the path of the plunger. It follows from this construction that at the instant when the latch M is freed from the plate, the spring N will return the shaft J, plate K and pawl H to their normal positions.

Any suitable or desired means may be provided for returning the sectional nut L to its original position as soon as said nut has been freed from the sleeve F. The particular means showninthe drawings for returning the nut to its first position comprises a cord 0 connected to the nut L at one end, and arranged to pass over a suitable pulley 0, and carrying at its other end a weight 0, by means of which, said nut is quickly retracted as soon as it is free from engagement with the screw-threaded sleeve. We find it preferable to engage the sectional nut L with the slotted plate K in such a manner as to permit of a slight downward yield in said nut as it comes into engagement with the screwthreaded surface of the sleeve F, and to this end a suitable springl is'conveniently placed between the upper surface of the plate Kand the lower surface of said nut. The pawl H is adjusted upon the end of shaft J to such a position that the sectional nut L will be brought into engagement with the screwthreaded sleeve just before said pawl is entirely freed from engagement with the plunger, so that in order to free the plunger, to permit it to be shot forward by the spring 2' into the path of the shoulder e, on the hub of the drive pulley, it will be necessary to effect a slight further movement of shaft J, plate K, and pawl H, the spring-Z being thereby compressed. In this manner a firm engagement of the nut L with the screw-threaded sleeve F is always effected before the drive pulley is thrown into engagement with the operating mechanism. In order to regulate the longitudinal travel of the sectional nut before its engagement with the latch, an adjustable stop P is secured to the edge of the plate K in rear of said nut, and adapted to limit the backward movement of said nut by the weighted cord 0, said stop being retained in its adjusted position by set screw 19. It

ICC

veniently provided adjacent to'slot k, thegraduations of this scale being equal to the pitch of the screw thread on the outside of the sleeve F, each graduation in said scale being thereby made to represent one rotation of the feed rolls. By the adjustment of the stop P to the proper graduation of scale Q the exact length of the wire fed from the rolls B B at each operation of the machine may be regulated, and by an adjustment of the stop lengthwise of said scale, the feed mechanism may be set so as to produce any,

desired lengths of wire for mattresses of any desired size.

In the manufacture of mattresses by our improved machine, the wire is forced lengthwise through the grooves of the twisting mandrel by the feed rolls, and as soon as the stoppawl is brought into engagement with the' plunger to disengage the feed mechanism from the drive pulley, the machine comes instantaneously to a dead stop, when the operator, by means of suitable nippers, severs the wire closeup to the delivery end of the twisting mandrel. These lengths of wire are delivered from the mandrel onto a suitable platform, and as each successive length of wire leaves the mandrel, it is twisted spirally into mesh with the couvolutions of the preceding strand, in the ordinary manner. This method of manufacturing wire mattresses being comlnon and Well known in the art, it isnot deemed necessary to illustrate or describe the same in detail.

In the employment of wire twisting machines for producing the spiral springs for wire mattresses it has been found exceedingly difficult to regulate the wire feed mechanism, so as to produce spirally twisted wires of uniform length, and it is to enable the operator to produce length after length of such wire of absolutely uniform length and to enable him to adjust his machine so as to produce twisted wires of any desired length,that ourimprovement is designed.

By means of our improved machine, all waste of the wire, due to unevenness in the lengths of the wires is avoided, thus effecting a very great saving in material.

As a further and separate improvement, we prefer to employ a suitable device under the control of the operator, for enabling him to instantaneously stop the machine, in case of any inaccuracy in the feeding of the wire, as it sometimes happens that the end of the spirally twisted wire, as it is projected from the twisting device, misses one of the convolutions of the preceding spiral, and runs out at the side of the series of spirals. To this end, we find it convenient to provide a suitable connection withthe latch M, whereby the operator may trip the same at will, the particular device shown in the drawings being a lever R secured to said latch, and extending into convenient reach of the operator. means of this device, by lifting the free end of said lever, he may at once stop the machine, in case that the wire runs out at the side of the preceding spiral, when he severs the wire at the twisting mandrel, and removes the part of the spiral already woven in, and replaces it by a new length.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A machine for producing lengths of spirally twisted wire, comprising a pair of feed rolls for advancing the wire, suitable drive mechanism for actuating the feed' rolls, a screw-threaded sleeve upon the axis of one of the rolls, a clutch for throwing the drive mechanism into or out of engagement with the rolls, and a traveling nut adapted for engagement with said sleeve, and arranged to engage with the clutch to throw the drive mechanism out of engagement after a predetermined number of revolutions of the rolls, substantially as described.

2. A machine for producing lengths of spirally twisted Wire, comprising a pair of feed rolls for advancing the wire to the twister, drive mechanism for actuating said rolls, a screw-threaded sleeve fast on the axis of one roll, a clutch for throwing the drive mechanism into or out of engagement with the rolls, a shaft carrying a pawl for throwing the clutch into or out of operation, and a traveling sectional nut carried by said shaft and adapted for engagement with said sleeve and arranged to disengage the clutch after a'predetermined number of rotations of the rolls, substantially as described.

3: A machine for producing lengths of spirally twisted wire, comprising a pair of feed rolls for advancing the wire to the twister,

drive mechanism for actuating said rolls, a screw-threaded sleeve fast on the axis of one roll, a clutch for throwing the drive mechanism into or out of engagement with the rolls, ashaftcarryingapawl for throwingthe clutch into orout of operation, and a traveling sectional nut adj ustably secured to said shaft and adapted for engagement-with said sleeve and arranged to disengage the clutch after a predetermined number of rotations of the rolls, substantially as described.

4. A machine for producing lengths of spirally twisted wire, comprising a pair of feed rolls for advancing thelwire to the twister, drive mechanism for actuating said rolls, a screw-threaded sleeve fast on the axis of one roll, a clutch for throwing the drive mechanism into or out of engagement with the rolls, a shaft carrying a pawl for throwing the clutch into or out of operation, a traveling sectional nut adj ustably secured to said shaft and adapted for engagement with said sleeve and arranged to disengage the clutch aftera pre-- determined number of rotations of the rolls, and suitable means for returning said nut to its initial position as soon as said clutch has been disengaged, substantially as described.

5. A machine for producing lengths of spirally twisted wire, comprising a pair of feed rolls for advancing the wire to the twister, drive mechanism for actuating said rolls, a screw-threaded sleeve fast on the axis of one roll, a clutch for throwing the drive mechanism into or out of engagement with the rolls, ashaft carrying a pawl forthrowing the clutch into or out of operation, a device under the control of the operator for moving said pawl into a position to bring the clutch into engagement, and a traveling sectional nut carried by said shaft and adapted for engagement with said sleeve and arranged to disengage the clutch after a predetermined nu mber'of rotations of the rolls, substantially as described.

6. A machine for producing lengths of spirally twisted wire, comprising a suitable twisting device, a pair of feed rolls for advancing the wire to said twisting device, a drive pulley loose upon the shaft of one of the rolls, a collar fast upon said shaft adjacent to said pulley, and provided with suitable clutch mechanism for en gagementtherewith, a clutch actuating device under the control of the operator for throwing said clutch into engagement with thepulley, a screw threaded sleeve fast on said shaft, and a traveling sectional nut carried by said clutch actuating device, and adapted to be brought into engagement with said sleeve, by the movement of said device which throws the clutch into engagement and arranged to automatically disengage said clutch after a predetermined number of rotations of the rolls, substantially as described.

7. A machine for producing lengths of spirally twisted wire, comprising a suitable twisting device, a pair of feed rolls for advancing the wire to said twisting device, a drive'pulley loose upon the shaft of one of the feed rolls, a collar fast upon said shaft adjacent to said pulley, and provided with suitable clutch mechanism forengagementtherewith,aclutch actuating device under the control of the operator for throwing said clutch into engagement with the pulley, a screw-threaded sleeve fast on said shaft, a traveling sectional nut carried by said clutch actuating device, and adapted to be brought into engagement with said sleeve by the movement of said device,

' which throws the clutch into engagement, and

arranged to automatically disengage said clutch after a predetermined number of rotations of the rolls, and an adjustable stop for limiting the backward movement of said nut, substantially as described.

said rolls, a drive pulley loose upon'said axis,

a collar fast upon said axis adjacent to said pulley, a spring actuated plunger movably supported in said collar, and adapted for engagement with said pulley, a shaft parallel with said axis and carrying a pawl adapted for engagement withsaid plunger to retract the same, a suitable device connected with said shaft and under the control of the operator for lifting said pawl out of the path of said plunger, a plate carried by said shaft, and provided with a longitudinal slot, a traveling sectional nut engaged with said slot, and adapted to be brought into engagement with .said screw-threaded sleeve by movement of said shaft which frees the plunger, a detent for temporarily holding said plate and shaft in their adjusted position, and adapted tobe engaged by said traveling nut to free said plate after a predetermined number of rotations of the rolls, and a spring for returning said shaft, together with pawl and the slotted plate to their initial positions, when said detent is disengaged, substantially as described.

9. A machine for producing lengths of spirally twisted wire, comprising a suitable twisting device, a pair of feed rolls for advancing the wire to said twisting device, a screwthreaded sleeve fast on the axis of one of said rolls, a drive pulley loose upon said axis, a collar fast upon said axis adjacent to said pulley, a spring actuated plunger movably supported in said collar, and adapted for engagement with said pulley, a shaft parallel with said axis and carrying a pawl adapted for engagement with said plunger to retract the same, a suitable device connected with said shaft and under the control of the operator, for lifting said pawl out of the path of said plunger, 2. plate carried by said shaft and provided with a longitudinal slot, a traveling sectional nut engaged with said slot, and adapted to be brought into engagement with said screw-threaded sleeve by the movement of said shaft, which frees the plunger, a detent for temporarily holding said plate and shaft in their adjusted position, and adapted to be engaged by said traveling nut to free said plate after a predetermined number of rotations of the rolls, a spring for returning said shaft, together with said pawl and the slotted plate to their initial positions when said detent is disengaged, and suitable means for returning said nut to its normal position as soon as it is freed from said sleeve, substantially as described.

10. A machine for producing lengths of spirally twisted wire, comprising a pair of feed rolls for advancing the wire to the twister, drive mechanism ,for actuating said rolls, a screw-threaded sleeve fast on the axis of one roll, a clutch for throwing the drive mechanism into or out of engagement, vwith the rolls, a shaft carrying a pawl for throwing the clutch into or out of operation, a device under the control of the operator for moving the pawl into position to free the clutch and to permit it to come into engagement with the drive mechanism, a traveling sectional nut carried by said shaft and adapted for engagement with said screw-threaded sleeve and arranged to disengage the clutch after a predetermined number of rotations of the rolls,

] Witnesses:

In testimony whereof we sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES M. FINOH. CHARLES PFEIFFER.

JOHN E. WILES, E. W. STOUT. 

